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NSSF praises the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit for its decision that found New Jersey’s laws banning the sale and possession of Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs) and standard-capacity magazines violate the Second Amendment. This decision is momentous as it fuels the challenges that the U.S. Supreme Court will hear on similar state and municipal MSR bans in the next session and creates disagreement between the circuit courts on the constitutionality of both MSR and magazine bans. “Today’s ruling by the Third Circuit vindicates what NSSF has argued for decades. The MSR is a commonly used firearm that is protected for legal sale and lawful ownership under the Second Amendment. Additionally, standard-capacity magazines are ‘arms’ that are also protected by the Second Amendment,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President & General Counsel. Read the full press release here.

No firearm was found during the illegal search as it was safely stored at his home

The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) has filed a motion for summary judgment in a case challenging the unconstitutional search of an 18-year-old high school senior’s vehicle that was based solely on the knowledge that he is a legal gun owner.

The case, Harrington v. Crawford, stems from an unlawful search of Hillsboro-Deering High School student Jack Harrington’s vehicle while it was parked on school grounds. Based only on an overheard conversation that Harrington lawfully owned a firearm, he was subjected to aggressive interrogation which culminated in his vehicle being searched without consent. No firearm was found during the illegal search as it was safely stored at his home, nowhere near the school campus.

“Entirely lawful and constitutionally protected conduct cannot be the grounds for a search,” said SAF Senior Director of Legal Operations Bill Sack. “School officials, especially when accompanied by law enforcement as was the case here, need at minimum reasonable suspicion to search a student’s vehicle. Here, those officials learning that our client was a gun owner gave them that suspicion. They are mistaken. If that were the case, student gun owners all over the country could be subject to repeated and endless harassment.”

As noted in the motion, “Defendants relied upon a week-old, stale report of a single comment made by Jack and overheard by an assistant coach…relating to Jack’s storage of his handgun in the glove box of his truck while at a gas station nowhere near campus – indisputably legal and constitutionally protected conduct. At no point during the interrogation, the search, or at any time since, have defendants brought forth a single shred of evidence of unlawful conduct by Jack. Moreover, defendants confirmed that they did not view Jack as a threat to school safety; they did not believe Jack had a weapon on his person during the interrogation; and Jack had no previous disciplinary issues.”

“District officials – and even a school resource officer who should know better,took it upon themselves to violate the constitutional rights of a peaceable, adult, firearm owner for no other reason than they learned of his status as a gun owner,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “Law enforcement and school officials are required to understand the law and to follow it, and in this case, it appears they failed at both.” Read more